As President Truman entered the Postdam Conference in 1945 with other Allied leaders Stalin and Churchill, the use of atomic warfare was the topic at hand. The fighting was still raging in the Far East, and all three leaders knew that something had to be done. From this conference, a stern warning was laid upon Japan. The warning did not change any policy in Japan. In fact, it is thought that the order to drop the two atomic weapons was made by Truman at the Postdam Conference.

For approximately the first three years of World War II, the United States remained neutral. There were agreements of peace signed. The US upheld these agreements until on December 7, 1941, the Japanese bombed a US military base in Pearl Harbor. On December 8, 1941, the US and Canada joined the side of the Allies and changed the tide of the war completely. The main players on the side of the Allies were Great Britain, the Soviet Union, Canada, all of the Latin American countries, and parts of Africa, among many others. The main players for the Axis Powers were Germany, Italy and Japan.

Once the US entered the war, a search was on to find the person who could bring the US into the atomic age. Einstein was this man. While most famous for such equations as e=mc2, Albert Einstein is also credited with the development of the use of atomic energy. His equation was actually the key to unlocking the theory of atomic energy. Einstein left Germany in 1932 because of anti-Jew protests against him. He accepted a teaching position at Princeton University. One month after his departure, the Nazis came into power in Germany, and Einstein would never return.

The equation E=mc2 is the key that unlocks the ability to harness atomic energy. In its simplest form, this is the ability to split in atom, and harness the incredible amount of power that is released. It is a misconception to state that Einstein developed the atomic bomb. He did not, and in fact was a staunch critic to the use of atomic warfare. He said:

Quote

But it is not necessary to imagine the earth being destroyed like a Nova by a stellar explosion to understand vividly the scope of atomic war and to recognize that unless another war is prevented it is likely to bring destruction on a scale never before made possible and even now hardly conceived and that little civilization would survive it.

However, it was Einstein, who in 1939 informed President Roosevelt of the ability to create a "superbomb." From the discovery of Einstein, a race began. The US was terrified that the Germans already had developed a weapon that used atomic energy, and were preparing to drop it. The Manhattan Project led by Robert Oppenheimer was created in the desert of New Mexico. Teams of the world's top scientists, doctors, and researchers worked around the clock in a frenzied like atmosphere to perfect their weapon, and on July 16, 1945 the first atomic bomb was detonated in Alamogordo, New Mexico.

President Truman had made the decision to drop the bombs, and so the first was dropped on August 6, 1945 on Hiroshima at 8:15 a.m. A B-29 Bomber called the Enola Gay dropped the "Little Boy" on the Japanese city. This bomb destroyed 1.5 miles of the city. The damage was made worse by the winds, created upon detonation, which hit the mountains that surround Hiroshima, and were reflected back into the heart of the city. It is estimated that the total loss of life from this bomb, including those who died later of exposure to radiation, is 200,000. The second and larger bomb was dropped on August 9, 1945 on Nagasaki. The loss of life from this bomb was a little higher than the number from Hiroshima.

As President Truman entered the Postdam Conference in 1945 with other Allied leaders Stalin and Churchill, the use of atomic warfare was the topic at hand. The fighting was still raging in the Far East, and all three leaders knew that something had to be done. From this conference, a stern warning was laid upon Japan. The warning did not change any policy in Japan. In fact, it is thought that the order to drop the two atomic weapons was made by Truman at the Postdam Conference.

For approximately the first three years of World War II, the United States remained neutral. There were agreements of peace signed. The US upheld these agreements until on December 7, 1941, the Japanese bombed a US military base in Pearl Harbor. On December 8, 1941, the US and Canada joined the side of the Allies and changed the tide of the war completely. The main players on the side of the Allies were Great Britain, the Soviet Union, Canada, all of the Latin American countries, and parts of Africa, among many others. The main players for the Axis Powers were Germany, Italy and Japan.

Once the US entered the war, a search was on to find the person who could bring the US into the atomic age. Einstein was this man. While most famous for such equations as e=mc2, Albert Einstein is also credited with the development of the use of atomic energy. His equation was actually the key to unlocking the theory of atomic energy. Einstein left Germany in 1932 because of anti-Jew protests against him. He accepted a teaching position at Princeton University. One month after his departure, the Nazis came into power in Germany, and Einstein would never return.

The equation E=mc2 is the key that unlocks the ability to harness atomic energy. In its simplest form, this is the ability to split in atom, and harness the incredible amount of power that is released. It is a misconception to state that Einstein developed the atomic bomb. He did not, and in fact was a staunch critic to the use of atomic warfare. He said:

Quote

But it is not necessary to imagine the earth being destroyed like a Nova by a stellar explosion to understand vividly the scope of atomic war and to recognize that unless another war is prevented it is likely to bring destruction on a scale never before made possible and even now hardly conceived and that little civilization would survive it.

However, it was Einstein, who in 1939 informed President Roosevelt of the ability to create a "superbomb." From the discovery of Einstein, a race began. The US was terrified that the Germans already had developed a weapon that used atomic energy, and were preparing to drop it. The Manhattan Project led by Robert Oppenheimer was created in the desert of New Mexico. Teams of the world's top scientists, doctors, and researchers worked around the clock in a frenzied like atmosphere to perfect their weapon, and on July 16, 1945 the first atomic bomb was detonated in Alamogordo, New Mexico.

President Truman had made the decision to drop the bombs, and so the first was dropped on August 6, 1945 on Hiroshima at 8:15 a.m. A B-29 Bomber called the Enola Gay dropped the "Little Boy" on the Japanese city. This bomb destroyed 1.5 miles of the city. The damage was made worse by the winds, created upon detonation, which hit the mountains that surround Hiroshima, and were reflected back into the heart of the city. It is estimated that the total loss of life from this bomb, including those who died later of exposure to radiation, is 200,000. The second and larger bomb was dropped on August 9, 1945 on Nagasaki. The loss of life from this bomb was a little higher than the number from Hiroshima.

The Japanese Government has reacted angrily after a North Korean missile flew over its territory. Officials in Tokyo say the medium-range ballistic missile test-fired by North Korea on Monday landed in the Pacific Ocean, travelling much further than previously thought. Japanese Government officials said the missile was composed of two stages, the first of which landed in the Sea of Japan, with the second falling in waters off Japan's north-east coast. If confirmed, the test is the first reported launch by North Korea of a two-stage missile and marks a significant step forward in its rocket technology.

'Strong protest'

The Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi said on Monday his government had been aware of North Korea's preparations to launch a ballistic missile into the waters that divide the Korean peninsula from Japan. As a result, Japan has refused to sign an agreement on sharing the cost of providing safer nuclear reactors to North Korea and will protest to the North Koreans. Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiromu Nonaka expressed Japan's "strong protest" in a complaint to North Korea's representative at the United Nations. Tokyo and Pyongyang have no diplomatic relations. "It was an extremely dangerous act to conduct without any advance notice in the sea near Japan where a number of vessels and aircraft of our country are operating," Mr Nonaka said.

US concern

The United States expressed concern over the North Korean action. Correspondents say it is likely to overshadow talks which have resumed in New York between Washington and Pyongyang on the progress of an agreement by North Korea in 1994 to freeze its nuclear reprocessing programme.

North Korea's test programme

Russian officials have said the missile launch was a test which misfired. They announced the missile had landed inside their territorial waters and are reported to have sent warships to the area to investigate. South Korea's Defence Ministry identified the missile as a newly-developed Taepo-Dong One, with an estimated range of approximately 1,000 miles. In 1993, North Korea caused anxiety in Japan by test-firing a medium-range Rodong-1 missile into the Sea of Japan, demonstrating that parts of western Japan were within the 1,000km (600-mile) range of the missile. The BBC Tokyo correspondent says there is speculation that the latest missile firing was intended by North Korea as a show of power in advance of the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Stalinist state.

While Iran's nuclear program has drawn most of the attention in recent months -- it was a much-discussed topic during Bush's meeting with European leaders in Vienna earlier this week -- North Korea's efforts to deploy a weapon have evidently continued apace. That is something Pyongyang apparently wanted to remind Bush of by fueling a Taepodong-2 long-range ballistic missile, named after the city where it is built, with a projected maximum range of about 9,300 miles -- enough to strike the U.S. The administration says U.S. satellites have captured the fueling activity.